Jodi Beggs: Economists Do It With Models

On Fridays, we examine a research paper that uses (or fails to use) a clever method to perform causal inference, i.e. to tease out cause and effect. Economists Gregory J. Martin and Ali Yurukoglu have a new paper published in the American Economic Review (also available in working paper form here) that shows that the existence of Fox News has a (statistically) significant impact on Republican vote share. Here’s the abstract:We measure the persuasive effects of slanted news and tastes for...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Why Do People Hate “Price Gouging” So Much? Economists, Take Note…: At least I chose a good image for my article this time. =P

[unable to retrieve full-text content]I feel like this is something that most social scientists can relate to… (See more on economistsdoitwithmodels.com.)

[unable to retrieve full-text content]For the (Probably Not) Last Time, the DREAMers Are Not Taking Your Jobs: I believe that a lot of well meaning people genuinely think this, and they deserve an explanation as to why they are wrong rather than just getting yelled at on humanitarian grounds.

Earlier this summer, four economists released a working paper suggesting that part of the decline in male labor-force participation can be attributed to the increased quality of video games. You can see an article about it here, and you can also see a non-technical summary of the paper as part of the NBER digest.Conceptually at least, this makes sense- better leisure activities increase the opportunity cost of working, which decreases the net benefit of working, and generally we do less of...

Every once in a while, I get contacted to answer questions and/or provide quotes for articles, news programs, etc. (Nothing will ever be as neat as the feature in Grazia though.) The latest was an inquiry from a very nice fellow named Chris Taylor, who is the money guy for Reuters. The article is linked above, and here is the larger context: Okay, what actually happened was basically this: Chris: Can I ask you some questions about leveraged ETFs?Me: Oh hell no.Chris: Oh sorry to disturb...

So I’m not entirely clear on what The Onion is making fun of here, but I have a couple hypotheses: 1. (more obvious) If polls are to be believed, the economy immediately improved once Trump got elected. Yes, this seems absurd if taken literally, but I guess this is what the concept of “animal spirits” is supposed to be all about. If enough people believe that Trump will be good for the economy and act accordingly, it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But it still doesn’t happen...

Rivalry in consumption: the degree to which one person consuming a good makes it more difficult for another person to fully consume the same unit of the goodUsage: A good generally exhibits high or low rivalry in consumption.Examples: A fireworks display exhibits low rivalry in consumption. An ice cream cone exhibits high rivalry in consumption. (Alternate phrasing: An ice-cream cone exhibits rivalry in consumption.)See also:THIS VIDEO IS SACRED… ? pic.twitter.com/o7ivZtJf8x— Life on...

This is cute because it makes the process seem kind of badass, but here’s the thing- the WSJ has to be, well, the WSJ, so this description is both accurate and completely misleading. As such, allow me to provide my less sanitized but more representative account: Yes, there is a big economics conference- the annual meeting of the “Allied Social Sciences Association,” which is the parent organization of the American Economic Association- held the first weekend in January each year,...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Bad With Money With Gaby Dunn by Gaby Dunn / Panoply on iTunes: I’m included in the latest episode! (the “Get Rich or Die Vlogging” one) In related news, I promise that I don’t secretly work at Starbucks. :)